California Black Media

Rep. Barbara Lee’s “Food as Medicine” Vision Becomes Federal Program

Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA-12) commended the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for launching the first-ever Food is Medicine (FIM) initiative virtual toolkit. The service is an interactive website with resources to advance the initiative nationwide to help communities reduce nutrition-related chronic diseases and food insecurity. Lee applauded the HHS for supporting the development and expansion of the initiative across the country.

Published

9 months ago

October 15, 2024

Oakland Post

iStock

By Bo Tefu, California Black Media

Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA-12) commended the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for launching the first-ever Food is Medicine (FIM) initiative virtual toolkit. The service is an interactive website with resources to advance the initiative nationwide to help communities reduce nutrition-related chronic diseases and food insecurity.

Lee applauded the HHS for supporting the development and expansion of the initiative across the country.

“The online toolkit will go a long way in helping communities across the country understand how to implement FIM programs and why they are critical to the people they serve. To put it simply: Nutritious foods are the cornerstone of good health,” said Lee.

“I look forward to working alongside local, state, and federal stakeholders as we continue to work to ending hunger and to transforming our ‘disease care system’ to a true health care system,” she said.

The HHS hosted its first-ever Food is Medicine Summit in January 2024, developing the FIM initiative and raising $2 million secured by Lee to launch the national Food as Medicine Program.

During her time in Congress, Lee has been an outspoken advocate fighting for people to have equal access to healthy and nutritious food and resources to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

The FIM initiative was created building on the success of the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health hosted by the Biden-Harris Administration. The conference had various stakeholders from various industries including medical professionals, policymakers, advocates, researchers, and farmers. Attendees at the conference helped craft a national strategy to end hunger in the country.